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Portrait of Herbert Rowse Armstrong
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Perpetrator

Herbert Rowse Armstrong

Born
13 May 1869
Died
31 May 1922, aged about 53
Record
Wikidata Q5735465 · Wikipedia

Perpetrator in The Hay Poisoner

Hay-on-Wye solicitor and clerk to the justices, known as Major Armstrong; convicted of poisoning his wife.

1920–1922 · Cusop and Hay-on-Wye, on the Herefordshire-Breconshire border · Executed

'Excuse fingers': a Hay-on-Wye solicitor handed his rival a buttered scone, and the arsenic trail led back to his wife's grave. Read the case.

Dated events

  1. Herbert Rowse Armstrong is born in Plymouth.

  2. Katharine Armstrong is admitted to Barnwood House asylum near Gloucester.

  3. Katharine Armstrong dies at home, aged 48.

  4. Oswald Martin falls ill after tea at Armstrong's house.

  5. Armstrong is arrested at his Hay office for the attempted murder of Martin.

  6. Katharine Armstrong's body is exhumed from Cusop churchyard and examined by Spilsbury.

  7. Armstrong is charged with his wife's murder.

  8. Armstrong is hanged at Gloucester prison.